ce. But it was
Russia that killed her.

Before she went there many of her friends urged her to give up the
expedition. Her maid had a premonition that the enterprise would end in
disaster, and had begged her mistress to stay at home.

"I feel sure you will never return alive ma'am," she had urged, and Miss
Macnaughtan's first words to her old servant on her return were: "You
were right, Mary. Russia has killed me."

Miss Macnaughtan rallied a little in June, and was occasionally carried
down to her library for a few hours in the afternoon, but even that
amount of exertion was too much for her. For the last weeks of her life
she never left her room.

Surely there never was a sweeter or more adorable invalid! I can see her
now, propped up on pillows in a room filled with masses of most
exquisite flowers. She always had things dainty and fragrant about her,
and one had a vision of pale blue ribbons, and soft laces, and lovely
flowers, and then one forgot everything else as one looked at the dear
face framed in such soft grey hair. She looked so fragile that one
fancied she might be wafted away by a summer breeze, and I have never
seen anyone so pale. There was not a tinge of colour in face or hands,
and one kissed her gently for fear that even a caress might be too much
for her waning strength.

Her patience never failed. She never grumbled or made complaint, and
even in the smallest things her interest and sympathy were as fresh as
ever. A new dress worn by one of her sisters was a pleasure, and she
would plan it, and suggest and admire.

It was a supreme joy to Miss Macnaughtan to hear, some time in June,
that she had received the honour of being chosen to be a Lady of Grace
of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem. Any recognition of her good work
was an unfailing source of gratification to her sensitive nature,
sensitive alike to praise or blame.

She was so wonderfully strong in her mind and will that it seemed
impossible in those long June days to believe that she had such a little
time to live. She managed all her own business affairs, personally
dictated or wrote answers to her correspondence, and was full of schemes
for the redecoration of her house and of plans for the future.

I have only been able to procure three of my aunt's letters written
after her return to England. They were addressed to her eldest sister,
Mrs. ffolliott. I insert them here:

* * * * *

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